What a way to sweep the Red Sox out of the playoffs! The Yankees brushed aside their inferior opponents, winning the two games by a combined score of 18-2. Every facet of their game was clicking — plate discipline, slug, bat-to-ball, two-strike hitting, situational hitting, base running, defense, and of course, starting pitching. It’s a winning recipe that leaves them in good stead for the upcoming ALDS date with Tampa.
The Yankees weren’t the only team to eliminate their opponents from the postseason
on Wednesday so let’s jump straight into the action!
AL Wild Card Series Game 2
Chicago White Sox 7, Houston Astros 3
(Chicago wins 2-0)
After just two games, I can’t think of any playoff participant who wants to face these White Sox. That is a sentence that no one could conceive of typing at the start of the season. Two seasons removed from suffering the most losses in MLB history and on the back of three straight losing campaigns, this upstart Chicago squad came out of nowhere to crash the postseason, starting with a two game sweep of the Astros in their own building.
They have done so by scoring early and often, the White Sox lineup a deep unit one-thru-nine with multiple ways to hurt you. They work deep counts, foul pitches off, draw walks, and can put the ball in play, but can also slug the ball out of the yard from almost any spot in the batting order. On Tuesday, they scored three unanswered runs in the first two innings to put the Astros on the back foot from the word go, and Wednesday continued the trend with the Southsiders hanging a four-spot before the home team had a chance to bat.
They had a 1-0 lead just five pitches into the game against Astros ace Hunter Brown, Sam Antonacci leading off with a double before Kyle Teel drove him home with a single. A fielding error by Nick Allen on a Miguel Vargas grounder put a pair on, and three straight singles by Andrew Benintendi, Tristan Peters, and Chase Meidroth plated three more runs with help from a Lucas Spence throwing error from center.
Credit to the Astros, they did not roll over after going down four in the first and slowly chipped into the White Sox lead. Jeremy Peña led off the bottom of the first with a booming home run that clattered off the left field wall just below the train tracks. Cam Smith hit one to almost exactly the same spot with two outs in the second. Jose Altuve narrowly snuck a solo shot into the Crawford Boxes to lead off the fourth and just like that, a 4-0 game had become a 4-3 thriller.
An inning later it looked like the Astros would pull of the improbable and complete the comeback. Smith was hit by a pitch, Peña singled, and Isaac Paredes walked to load the bases with two outs for Altuve. However, reliever Anthony Kay got Altuve to fly out to medium right field to strand all three ducks on the pond. That left the door open for the White Sox to swing the momentum back in their own favor and they did so immediately. Benintendi and Peters drew a pair of walks to open the sixth, prompting Joe Espada to call on Bryan Abreu out of the bullpen. Astros owner Jim Crane vetoed a trade of Abreu to the Twins in the final minutes of the deadline, and Abreu rewarded that faith by hanging a 3-1 slider to Meidroth, the second baseman crushing a three-run bomb to left to put the final nail in the Astros’ coffin.
After sweeping this rematch of the 2005 World Series, the White Sox advance to the ALDS where they will face the AL Central champion Guardians, first pitch of Game 1 scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday.
NL Wild Card Series Game 2
Philadelphia Phillies 4, Atlanta Braves 3
(Series tied 1-1)
The Phillies’ season was hanging by a thread until some late heroics by Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and Alec Bohm sent this thrilling series to a decisive Game 3. It was a pitchers’ duel early between two starters trending in opposite directions. Tyler Mahle entered his first career playoff start with a sub-two ERA after joining the Braves from the Giants at the deadline while Cristopher Sánchez posted an ERA above five in the month of September (though will still likely wrap up his second straight runner-up finish in NL Cy Young balloting).
The one thing the two starters do have in common is first inning struggles and that certainly played out in this game. Mahle allowed a leadoff double to Trea Turner and consecutive one-out singles by Bryce Harper and Alex Bohm to allow the Phillies to jump ahead, 1-0. However, Sánchez issued a leadoff walk to Ronald Acuña Jr., who promptly stole second and scored the tying run on a Matt Olson single.
Both starters settled in from there, trading zeroes for the next five innings, until things unraveled for Sánchez and his defense in the seventh. Sean Murphy worked a leadoff walk and Ha-Seong Kim reached on a bunt single to put a pair on with no outs. Drake Baldwin then clubbed what looked like a routine liner to right, but Harper misplayed it horrifically breaking in on the ball only to watch it sail over his glove and to the wall for what was ruled as an RBI double. Sánchez intentionally walked Ozzie Albies to load the bases, and Olson made him pay with a sac fly to double the Braves lead, 3-1.
What should have been a hammer blow to the Phillies morale did not play out as such. Schwarber immediately responded with a towering leadoff shot off lefty reliever Dylan Lee, and Harper atoned for his misplay by going back-to-back to retie the game, 3-3. That sent this game to extra innings, where the much-maligned Alec Bohm continued his redemption tour. Bohm was on the bubble of being non-tendered during the offseason, but the Phillies kept him around and drove in the first run of the series with an RBI double in the first inning of Game 1. The third baseman was the ultimate hero in this one, his opposite field solo homer off rookie Didier Fuentes in the 10th to keep the Phillies season alive and force a decisive Game 3.
San Diego Padres 4, Chicago Cubs 1
(San Diego wins 2-0)
This game featured surprisingly quick hooks of both starters as neither manager wanted to risk leaving their highest leverage relievers unused. One was certainly more deserved than the other, Kevin Gausman allowing three runs on five hits in 3.1 innings. The Cubs were desperate for starting pitching at the Trade Deadline and Gausman was supposed to be their big prize. However, he flopped after making the move from the Blue Jays, pitching to a 4.83 ERA in nine starts post-deadline, and his stinker tonight was the beginning of the end of the Cubs’ season. Nick Pivetta on the other hand held Chicago to a run on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 3.1 innings, but Craig Stammen seemed determined to play the matchups in this one.
Ty France got things started with a double to lead off the second, advancing to third on a Jackson Merrill single, who then stole second to put a pair in scoring position for Xander Bogaerts. The veteran shortstop opened the scoring with an RBI single, which brought Ethan Salas to the plate. The 20-year-old became the youngest catcher ever to appear in a playoff game, and in his first postseason PA, he lifted a sac fly to center to plate Merrill as the Padres’ second run.
The real story of this series has been the Cubs’ inability to score. They led MLB scoring 5.25 runs per game, spearheaded by shoo-in NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong and his MLB-leading 45 home runs (PCA would go 0-for-7 with four strikeouts in the series). They found themselves shut out through the first 12.1 innings of this series, finally breaking the seal in the fourth on a Seiya Suzuki single, Ian Happ walk, and Nico Hoerner RBI single. A Carson Kelly hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with two outs, but Dansby Swanson flew out to stand all three in place.
San Diego immediately punished them for failing to fully cash in on that scoring opportunity. Bogaerts reached on a one-out double, prompting Craig Counsell to call on Daniel Palencia in relief of Gausman. Palencia yanked a 101 mph fastball right into Sheets’ nitro zone down and in, and the lefty crushed it to right for a mammoth two-run blast.
It was all hands on deck from there from the Padres bullpen looking to protect their lead for the final five innings of the contest. They proved how terrifying a relief corps they’ve been all season, allowing just three base runners — a Michael Busch walk with two outs in the fifth, a Tyrone Taylor pinch-hit single with one out in the eighth, and a Hoerner one-out double off Mason Miller in the ninth — after the Cubs stranded the bases loaded to end the fourth.
San Diego advances to the NLDS where they will face the best team in baseball. It’s an unenviable position to come up against presumptive NL Cy Young Jacob Misiorowski and the 103-win Brewers. Game 1 of that series is scheduled for October 3rd with first pitch time contingent upon the result of Game 3 between Philly and Atlanta.
